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Normak, M. a. OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD. 3?XJBIjI8IIi!]D BY RISQUIfiST. yViONTHEAU STARKB & CO., PRINTSRSr 44 ST.^ft4rNCOIS XA¥IE« ST:^Bll'f. ins. ft ihe bUs'^.ii^a «. . ■■■R^ Acc. No. '^9^H^^^H| Class Mk. ''4 Date Vol. ^^ Date Rec'd FEB 2 1 1950 Agent ^H Fund ^1 Cost ^^H Notify Send to Presented University of Western Ontario. BINDING Binder Cost McGILL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ROUTINE SLIP THE BLESSING AND THE TEACHING OF LABOUR; A SERMON Preached in^t. Jhomas' Phurch. ON THE OCCASION OF THE ANNUAL HARVEST HOME FESTIVAL, IN CONNECTION WITH THE PARISHES OF ST. GEOSGE AND ST. THOMAS, CLARENCEVILLE RECTORY, P. Q. BY THH Rey. R. W. Normak, M. a., OF EXETER COLLT ^E, OXFORD. I>UBLISHEr> BY REQUEST. Montreal, J. STARKE & CO., PRINTERS, 54 ST. FRANCOIS XAVIER STREET. 1868. * SERMON. » Man goeth forth unto his work, And to his labour, until the evening." —104th Psalm, 23rd verse. In this, the 104th Psalm, David is describing the mighty power and all-observing providence of God. The heavens, the earth, the sea, the mountains, the valleys, the rivers, the sprin-s, the forest and the plains, are all sung of, as each and all displaying peculiar features imprinted on them by the hand of their Maker. All are made to subserve two ends ; a present one the support of living creatures, animals and men ; and an ultimate one, God's glory. He gives all to all. Even the hunger that animates the ravenous beasts and incites them at nightfall to prowl through jungles and woods, is an instinct bestowed upon them by the Almighty, and He provides for the satisfying of that instinct. How wonderfully is this truth shown in the few words preceding the text—" The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God." When the sun ariseth, when men rise to their appointed tasks, then these beasts gather themselves together and lay them down' in their dens. *^But man goeth unto his work and to his labour until the evening." This, then is another of God's laws; one which beginning in a curse, has become one of the greatest of blessings and noblest of employments Our first parents, before their temptation and fall, needed no toil whereby to live. Although we cannot pronounce on the situation of that first garden, or enumerate its glories and beauties, we can say from Scripture, that its plants, trees and flowers yielded to man all he needed without effort or culture. But when the lying tempter beguiled them, and they for hunger's sake and pride's sake disobeyed God, then a change came over the face of God's nature. Its benefits could only be obtained by cultivation. In the sweat of man's brow he WHS to eat bread. It is surely very remarkable and vury interest- ing to notice in Scripture and in Nature a sympathy with man, a fellow-suffering with man, and a reproduction, if I may use the word, in Nature of certain features of human character. We know also that the converse truth holds good. How much we are affected by climate and by situation. It is certain that particular districts, localities, situations, have particular effects in shaping the characters of nations, in determining their histories, in fixing their destinies, and the parts they play in the world, in influencing their habits, in' tellects and personal appearance. Let a country be flat as Holland, mountainous as the Tyrol, rugged and sterile as Tartary, sunuy as Naples, and the inhabitants will display completely different national qualities. Conversely, God from the first determined to show as an example to man, that creation was affected by man, and was to bear a part of the penalties of human shi. The serpent, an instrument of the evil one for tempting man, was cursed, and constantly in its stealthy habits seems to remind us of the subtle being that assumed Its shape. God made the lower animals, in a great degree, for man's benefit, and when the sin of the old world waxed so enormous as apparently to weary out even the Divine patience, then these animals with man were destroyed by the flood. The barren fig tree was cursed by Christ as a timely warning to men of the punishment of liypocrisy. The swine at Gadara impelled headlong into the watery deep, gave a visible evidence of diabolical power, and thus warned men not to admit Satan and his hosts into their souls. The serpent grovellii,^ on the ground is a perpetual memento of the falsehood which the tempter spoke to Eve, when he induced her and Adam to eat the forbidden fruit on the idea that they would thereby become as God.— And the earth formed good by the good God, clothed with fertility, was to bear upon it the constant trace of man's sin. Crops of food fitted for man were not to be its spontaneous produce. It was in m.ost cases to bring forth naturally thorns and thistles. The mildew, the blight, that nt, times disfigure the earth and take from the value of the crops— what are they but symbols of the wither- ing effects of temptation and r,in ? Nay, too, as in its outward aspect It was to preach a warning of man's fall, so it was also to reflect the nature of its inhabitants. Do we not judge of the characters of men by the appearance of their ground ? If husbandmen suffer their in- dustry to rust and their energy to lie fallow, does not their neglect fihew itself in their land ? Do we not learn that very wholesome les- i Hon, Umt aince man's fall, the earth, like the soul of man, cannot be ill a negative position .'' It' the Hoil i,s not plouj^'lu'd, and tilled, and sown, it not only bears no crop of any worth, it not only is barren, but it is fertile in wcedn. They creep over it with an extraordinary ramifying power, they exhaust the properties of the soil— they cumber the ground. Like the barren fig tree, they occupy space, and while thev are worthless themselves, they draw away the nourishment that would have fed useful plants. They impart that utterly melan- choly appearance— that depressing effect of rust and neglect which so many must have noticed, und which is such a fitting type of a neglected and uncared for soul. Like the earth, we cannot really be in a negative state. If we are not fertile in good, we are not simply idle and doing nothing, but we must sooner or later be prolific in evil. But the love of God turned that wliich was a primal curse into an eventual blessing, and catches the evil one in his own toils. The serpent uticd Kve as a tool for man's full and degradation ;— but God used woman bh an instrument for man's restoration. The seed of the woman, who was first in the transgression, was to bruise the head of the serpent. The incarnation of Christ from Mary, the second Eve, did away with the curse, and made won)an, who had been the meanto oi '"'- xo misery, into an inatrumeni for bringing in blesising. children God's CO. upon it. 'x- of the reminders serpents in the wilderness slew men, women and .nzen serpent on the pole set up by Moses, at 10 means of restoring life to those who gazed too again, one of the fruits of man's fall, one .6 consequencDB of sin, were woven by Ihe second Adam into a coronet for His brow. Those thorns were a sign of the curse ; but when Christ, who became a curse for us, wore them ;— they pierced His sacred forehead, they shed His precious blood, and so brought a blessing upon mci>. •'bus, though the labour of man was enjoined on him as compulsory, because of bis sin, though he, who if he had continued obedient, would have lived as king of the earth, and then would have been translated to heaven without the pain of death, had now to wring subsistence out of the ground by sweat and labour, until he returned to the very earth which he dug and ploughed ; yet the hand of mercy is in that very punishment. Man by his fall had lost the fruits of Paradise. He had thrown away his innocence. A life of idlene3S would have been a still greater misery and a far greater curse. Labour, occupation, and all of us have to labour, hether with our hands or our minds, is an essential 6 j.i-eKervaiive against sl„. T„du8try is a great help U, honest .. St 1 anl says to the Kphe.sians* :-- ,...i hi,n that stole steal no mure but rather let him lahour, workin- with hi.s hands that which in Kood." The fjreat Apostle himself, in order not to he hurthennome to his flock, helped 1'ri.scilla and Aquilla to ,„ake leather tent cover- m;r^. Let m look into this nuitter with more care. Lal)our neces- sitateH 8elf.denial, which is one of the best features in n.an's character and one of tlie most essential towards Christian perfection Our dear and blessed Lord was the -reatest of examples of toil. Was it not toil, too, for others, and were not those others ungrateful itt last? Could there be most self-dcnying labour? He sanctified toil and poverty. He was so poor that he had uo house of His own His disciples were working men,-and some of them humble r.nd ua- learned, His Mother had boon betrothed to a carpenter ; and Ho Himself, was sometimes culled the carpenter's son. A id if we wish td ^e like Him, we must also take; up our cros.s and laboui m things that we like not. Next, labour disciplines our eharacters ;-. it enables us to gam a mastery over ourselves ; it occupies our minds as well as our bodies. Labour acts as a safety valve. Idle hands are the read'est instruments for Satan's works. Idle, unoccupied minds are the best soil for him wherein to sow his noxious seed, which will bring forth deadly fruit. It was the empty house inLo which the d*>vil entered. It is the vacant mind iufo which he drops some wicked suggestion, wliich there ferments and works mischief. One of the mo.st certain helps against temptation IS thorough occupation of mind and body. Next, labour binds us together in our great and wide spread human family. It recalls to us that we are all members of one Body. God wills that no man should be idle. An idle man is a pestilence to others as well as to himself. He is truly an incubus on God's earth, Labour also gives us strength of body ; it wins for us refreshing sleep ; it improves and fortifies our health and spirits. An idle man is rarely a healthy man Ke rarely does that which can ensure him natural appetite and natural slumber. He pampers his jaded taate and weakens his body, and he certamly is not happy. As Shakespeare beautifully puts itf— " If all " tc year were pLying holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to • Ephesians, 4th chapter. 28th verse. t Ist Part of Henry IV, Act 1, Sc. 2. •< work, but. when they ;-tcluv>in coiiio, they wiwhed for conic." The man who laDours apprwiatcH the true- con:tbrt and blessing of rest and Hleep. Tic knows, too, what water la to ihe thirsty, and broad U) the hungry. But not no tljc hkivi who is selfish and idlo, As he is always ccnsultlug his own ,.leasure juid indulgence, he lias lost the taste for true pleasure, atid so, by a singular retribution, he has to exer- cise that most laborious and delusive of all occupations, tht huntin,"; after pleasure. It is laborious tjccause there is no rest to it. It is de- lusive because true pleasure is that which is natural, which comes of itself, as it were, and which is enjoyed after toil. The idle man is miserable because he bus at times a twinge of conscience. Soiuo of his pleasures eaunot bo innocent. Flo is therefore reminded in his heart that God did not make him for nothing, and that it was not according to the Divine intent, that lie should be as ii useless log, impeding the progress of others. Think for a moment how much wo lu-e indebted to labour, and that the labours of others. One man cannot do cverytlilng. It was a dream of philosophy that man shou" ^" self-sufficient, i.nd that a per- fect man, perfect as far as ;atht \ standards of perfection went, should be as far a*! possible completely independent of others. But such selUsh chilling theories are contrary to Scripture, and opposed to fact. God has caught us to look to one another for help, for co-oper- ation, ' r sympathy and comfort in joy and sorrow. He ha& told us to rejoice with them that rejoice, to weep with them that weep. He has told us to bear one another's burdens, and so to fulfil His law. And this desire for jwsisting one another, and profiting by the aid of one another, belongs to what is called society. It belongs to marriage, to friendship, to trade, to association. It is the moving impulse which has brought the inhabitants of towns and villages to cluster together iu one spot. This dependence of man upon man is partic- ularly exemplified, in that we have to look to one another for the comforts and even the necessaries of life. This should remind us that we are children of one Parent, and give us feelings of mutual charity, when we say " Our Father which art in Heaven." Thus, by God's ordinance, man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. Wc, the clergy, are working men, and labouring for and with you. However wealthy a man may be in this world's goods, he has a work to do. Whether he inherits richee, or whether he anasscs nioney by honorable honest toil, ithev by iciual manual labour, or mental exertion, it matters not. The poBi:j.^8iou of wealth, mi 8 80 far from encouraging idleness, increases a person's responsibility It should remind him that God looks for good works from him, and that, hke his Master, he must work the work of Him that sent him while It IS day, for the night cometh when no man can work. From the morning of youtli to the evening of old age we have to go forth to our work and to our labour. That work and labour may be humble and small, but if it is honest it is according to God's will. It is the sphere in which we can work out our own salvation, and by doing that we can help on others towards God. On such occasions as this gatliering, we, as it were, make a pause in our journey tlirough life and, to a certain extent, and in an imperfect manner, shadow forth that great in-gathering, that mighty harvesting, that extatic thanks- F^iving, which will one day come upon the earth. It is indeed a caeenng sight to see so goodly a congregation sanctifying such a day by assembling in God's house to pray and to praise Him. It is scarcely less cheering to see this Church chastely, yet beautifully decorated by the flowers and fruits of God's earth. What decoration can be more seemly, or more Scriptural, than those pure and beautiful products, which, in their stainless beauty and innocence, preach the Resurrection, and teach us lessons of goodness. It is also a pleasure to one who appreciates what worship is, to see the spontaneous efforts made here to render this Church in some degree meet for God's service It IS a recognition of the principle that nothing can be too costly or beautitul for that holiest of places, a Church, and that most sacred of duties the worship of the Almighty. God calls us to-day to re- joice and bo glad. Only He requires of us to rejoice in a thankful spin . ^ Thou, God, visitest the earth and blessest it ; thou ' makest it very plenteous ; thou preparest their corn, for so thou ' providest for the earth. Thou waterest her furrows ; thou sendest rain into the little valleys thereof; thou makest it soft with the " d- ops of rain, and blessest the increase of it." Gratitude to God IS one lesson. Wo should emulate nature, which always o-ives an equivalent for the benefits it receives. The rain which falls r°xreshes the earth. The bright sun draws up that moisture lest it should lie too long, and injure the growth of plants and crops. That moisture again appears in the form of clouds and vapour, which mitigate the sun s heat, and which once more descend in the form of rain, making the soil fertiL. Nay, as you know, even the death of plants is life ♦ Ps. 65th, 9th verse. 9 The very constituents into which they are resolved, fj;ive nourishment to others, while the earthy matter into which they are finally turned, fattens and enriches the soil. Man, therefore, is called upon to thank God. lie is called on to make a rehearsal of his employments in heaven. For him now a table is spread. To stimulate him creation is making melody. And as God above gives us the increa>!e. however man may labour, therefore a harvest should make men thankful and not self- glorifying. It should make them think of others. It should make us feel for tho.se less well off than ourselves in this world's goods. It should make us reujardful of those wl, 'se labour has brouirht this about. Scripture tells us that it is a Christian's duty to labour, not specially to enrich himself, and not only in order to live honestly, but to give to him that needeth.* There is no greater blessing to a country than a plentiful harvest, There is no greater calamity than a scanty one. All classes feel the one and the other ; it is noticeable that some of the most dreadful disturbances in history have been connected with scarcity of bread. Benevolence, then, should come next to thanksgiving. And he who is mindful of others will never be forsaken. The bread that is cast upon the waters will return to him. If affliction come upon hhn, friends will be raised up, and his seed will not be begging their bread. Lastly, brethren, this day should reuiind us of* the great harvest. The time is coming when our work and our labour will have its fixed end, which (Jod has known all these years. These years s^teal with noiseless steps, and as they leave their mark upon our bodies, as they gradually impair our strength, so they should leave an impression of good on our souls, f He that gathereth in summer is a wise son. but he that sleepeth in harvest Is a son of shame." Our present life is in the true sense a time of tribulation. That word strictly means a sifting, a threshing, or winnowing of corn. It means the separation of the chaff from the wheat — the division of the worthless from the solid and valuable part of our nature. This ought to be always going on. It is absolutely necessary. Through nmch tribulation some alone can enter into the kingdom of (lod. Satan also is allowed, at times, by God, to sift us and prove • Ephesians, 4th chiiptor, C8th veno. t I'rov. 10th chapter, Sth verse. B 10 our quality. Our Lord said to His Apostle*-" SJ.nnn ^- doa h will dctcr,umo whether we have done our labour -whether we shall be as the v-ood gram which cau be gathered u>to theW T «™,ar,, „r whether the sifting has foun-d Jand p^.td s t:t :;T M T"",'""" ^''™ ""' "" ' l-vest at the end o «.e world. For that, as it were, all ereation i, waitiu. nIi ° as we have »cen, in so„,e mysterious way ha, shared „™'s af , te s u»|-_.That the earnest expeetation of creation waiteth fi!,^ .^;l!:iir:;ro/r:;-id^r:f^-4r:;eV^^ ;; creation g„a„eth and travaileth in p^n'^'togeU: ^tiltl" and not only so, but we ourselves, groan within ourselves wak^ ."Sr for the redo,np,ion„f ourbodies." Letus.henlabourf L W mor„„,g of youth to the sm.set of age. In the one we can do "1 by our earnest, aotne, good principles, in the other by our ea?eftd ™s,g„a.,on, „„r bun.bleness, our purity of conscience. Let us to .■<•J0.ce to-day, bre.bre s Clnistian Ohnrcb people. L^W^Z tLof;'.;;,:, "','r''r ^■'"'■■""•. /-' - '..ko'e.v,,n,p,e fou, tz n Us , t ,,.„uu.. J l,„y l,ave repaid the toil bestowed o„ then, L„t ..s fy to do the .san,e I,et us otter t„ ,i„d our hnn.bie Is . od .eso ufon.,, our liberal abns, a wave sheaf as it were of pr"; and good wor s. so that we n,ay return in s„n,e sn.all way wl He h„.s done tor us. We are in the field of God's Chure Has He not warn.ed „s with the snn of His love and care ' HarHe not watered us witli the dews of His Grace „, I U:l ! Has He not trained and tended „s - W r^^r ,,n ""'"■ ' ..^ Ur, for all these benett. > ,ct us tir^H;: te y" Z ll t.> to live, so that at the last ia-gatherinir. the an.^el rcane,?, ca.-ry us to the s.„.ch„„se above, where we shall tin ^ ITsp S «• "s by tl,c Lord of ,l,e harvest, Jesus Christ onr Lord ^ • St. Lnke. 22nd chaw«r, .!Ut vene. t Romnnj, 9th chapter r M-23rd vureea. uon, Our r we enly be 1 of [ire, and *{ml fur tiorx i it tho lole m, lit- tho >od fill :oo DW Hit ur rs at h. 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